“Lose Ten Pounds in Ten Seconds!” Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Well, not anymore ridiculous than attempting to get buff on peanut butter sandwiches. But that‘s exactly what many hard working waist watchers are trying to accomplish. As a personal trainer and owner of BodyTek personal training club, I see lots of bodies and hear lots of crazy dieting schemes. Recently a good friend and I were having a discussion about the crazy claims that so many diets make. In fact about two thousand new fad diets a year are created and published. PLEASE! It takes only ten seconds to read the label on your favorite food. This is a simple and effective way to drop ten pounds fast! Understanding your calorie count is important when buffing up. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. You may simply be trying to extract your proteins from foods that are too high in calories. Just a glance at the label will fool almost anyone. Upon closer inspection those “feel good” foods like peanut butter and cheese are loaded down with unwanted calories just waiting to set up camp on your hips. “Sneaky Calories.” I’m not picking on my peanut butter buddy. He’s fine as a treat or even a crave killer. Just keep in mind that he’s one hundred ninety calories per serving. That’s only two tablespoons everyone and that’s a lot considering that your total calories for each meal or snack should be between two hundred and three hundred. Watch out for sneaky calories like these. For Best results try choosing a protein item that has changed very little since it’s beginning. We refer to these as unprocessed foods or “Clean”. My favorite example of a processed food has to be the potato. In it’s beginning its quite nutritious having about twenty-seven quality carbohydrates, no fat, and one hundred twenty four energizing calories for the baked four-ounce version. Now let’s slice it up a bit, through it in some oil and call it French fry’s. Our nutrition from the potato morphs to about forty-five sketchy carbohydrates, twenty-three grams of fat (5g saturated), and four hundred sixty relatively empty calories. But we’re not done yet. Let’s pound those fry’s flat, drop them in some more oil and call them potato chips. At this point our four-ounce potato has lost all of its dignity having sixty-one bad carbohydrates, forty grams of fat (12 saturated), and six hundred eight sneaky calories pitching tents everywhere! Oh, I forgot to mention that whopping six hundred eight milligrams of sodium that hitched a ride on the fat train. HOLD EVERYTHING! Here’s a simple solution for outsmarting those sneaky calories. “Eat Clean Be Lean”. For the adult female waist watcher a clean serving of protein (approx. 18 g) should be 100 calories or less. For adult males a clean serving of protein (approx. 30 g) should be 200 calories or less. It’s that simple. Remember that the same serving of protein from peanut butter is packing 475 calories for girls and 855 calories for guys and that my friends will make it very difficult to get buff. It’s easy; during your next shopping trip simply ask yourself the question clean or processed? Then take ten seconds to look over the label and remember your calories per serving. If your choice of protein comes with more than your allowed calories “PUT IT BACK! Say good-bye to those sneaky calories. You can also say good-bye to a few pounds while you’re at it, maybe ten or so?